Lipstick
by Anriko
Summary: A day in the life of a Neomommy. White fur and black lipstick do not mix.


**"Mooooooooooommmmmmmyyyyyyyyyy!"**

I hear this several times a day.

Hiya, my name's anriko. I have four Neopets  -- Saphiel, who's currently a Lost Desert Shoyru, Selese, a white Usul, magan36, currently a skunk Usul, and marianne00, currently a yellow Usul, as of writing this. They're a handful at times, too. But I love them anyway.

This time it was magan36 who yelled for me. "Saphiel's got my Prom Date Usuki and she won't give it back!" she wailed, running into my room. "She's flying in the living room with my Usuki! Mommy!"

I winced. "Calm down, magan36. It's just a Usuki doll." Nevertheless, I got up, magan36's hand in mine, and we walked to the living room. As she'd said, Saphiel was flying around the living room, clutching the Usuki. Selese was watching her with mild amusement as she brushed out her Magical Hair Usuki's wild hair, and marianne00 was quietly coloring beside her on the couch. I stopped in the doorway. "Saphiel! Come down here right now!"

Saphiel alighted on the ground. "What?"

"Did you take your sister's Usuki doll?"

She fidgeted slightly. "Um..."

"Saphiel." I frowned at her. "You know better than that. Now give magan36 her Usuki back and apologize."

Saphiel held out the Prom Date Usuki to magan36, who reached out and took it as if Saphiel was going to take it back from her at any minute. "Sorry," Saphiel muttered.

I rubbed my temples slightly, the beginning of a headache coming on. Selese, the baby of the family, jumped off the couch and handed me a bottle of aspirin she'd managed to find somewhere. I took it and gulped down one. "Thank you, Selese."

"You're welcome, mommy," she chirped before going back to the Magical Hair Usuki.

* * *

However, I'd have to say the strangest incident was just a few days ago. I was quietly working at my desk in my room, trying to figure out just how to beat that annoying Cave Chia, when Saphiel poked her head in my room nervously. "Mommy?"

"Yes, Saphiel?" Usually they knew not to interrupt me when I was working, unless it was important.

"Um... you know how Selese wants to be like the Shadow Usul, right?"

This was unlike Saphiel to dance around the subject. Usually she'd tell me everything, especially if she was tattling on her sisters. "Yes?"

Saphiel fidgeted slightly, coming all the way into my room. "And how she says she'd like the shadow paint brush to make her look like the Shadow Usul?"

"Yeah. What's going on?"

Selese idolized the Shadow Usul, I recalled. In fact, I was looking to find her a Shadow Usul plushie for her next birthday. It was very rare not to hear her talking about her idol at least once a day. She even had a notebook full of the Neopian Times' articles about the Shadow Usul.

But I'm getting off track.

"Well, she took her allowance and bought a black lipstick... andtriedtoseeifshecouldmakeherselflookliketheShadowUsulwiththat," Saphiel finished in a rush.

"What?" I blinked.

"She tried to paint herself with the lipstick to make herself look more like the Shadow Usul," Saphiel repeated nervously. "But it kinda... melted... and gummed up her white fur pretty bad. She's in the bathroom crying. marianne00's trying to clean it out, but it seems to keep getting worse and worse."

I sighed and reached for the aspirin. "I'll be down in a minute, Saphiel. Where's magan36?"

"Playing with her Searex," Saphiel told me.

"Go tell her to stay inside the house. I may have to leave with Selese in a few minutes." Saphiel nodded and hurried off, relieved. I got up and made my way to the bathroom. Inside I heard Selese sniffling and marianne00 talking softly to her as I knocked on the door. "Can I come in?"

marianne00 opened the door for me and Selese buried her face in her paws. Her white fur was covered with black spots and smudges, white foam, and occasional bits of purple shampoo. "I did what I could, but it won't come out," marianne00 told me. "Not even with the Peophin soap up there."

I nodded. "I guess we'll just have to go to the Grooming Parlor and see what the shopkeeper has to say."

Selese sniffled quietly as I went to go find my Ice Caves jacket.

A few minutes later, after instructing the girls to be good, Selese and I went out to see what the Usul at the Grooming Parlor would have to say. I'd wrapped her in the Ice Caves jacket to keep people from staring at her or making rude comments. The only sound I'd heard on the walk was her sniffling. Suddenly, she spoke, in a quavery little voice. "Mommy?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Are you mad at me?"

Oh, that most difficult of questions. "How come?"

Another sniffle. "...'Cause... 'cause I got myself all gooey and dirty..." Sniffle. "...and... I know that we can't find any way to make me look like the Shadow Usul... and I know this is gonna be expensive..."

"Oh, honey," I said softly. "I'm not mad at you. I know how much you want to look like the Shadow Usul. Admittedly, lipstick wasn't the best way to go about it, but it can be fixed. And don't worry about the money. That's not what's important. What is important is that we get your fur clean right now."

Selese sniffled again. "Okay."

We went into the Grooming Parlor and the Usul who ran it bustled up to us. "Hi there! Can I help you?"

Selese poked her head out of the coat, finally. "I had an accident with the lipstick..." she said, no longer sniffling.

The shopkeeper Usul winced slightly. "Oh, I see! Come back here and let's see what we can do about this." She led us to a back room with a sink, a table, and a mirror. "Have you tried washing it out?"

Selese nodded. "We've tried all Mommy's shampoos and soaps and everything... but it hasn't come out..."

The shopkeeper Usul nodded. "Well, there is another option, but it's not a nice one... It looks like we'd have to shave off all your fur and wait for it to grow back in."

Selese's eyes widened, but she nodded slowly. "Can Mommy do it?"

"Sure," replied the shopkeeper. "I've got a set of clippers here, only two thousand Neopoints. It comes with everything you need."

Selese's eyes widened again, but I was already digging into my pockets, very glad I'd gone to the bank earlier. "Fifteen hundred."

"Deal."

I handed the Neopoints to the shopkeeper, who counted it quickly, nodded, and hurried off. She retuned with the clipper set and pressed it into my hands. "Thank you and you have a good day now!"

I nodded. Selese dived back into the coat before I went out the door. Once we'd gotten home, I took her into the bathroom and plugged in the clippers, then removed Selese's bow. I put in the proper blade and started the clippers. Selese barely flinched as white and black clumps of fur came off one by one. But she wouldn't look at herself in the mirror when I'd finished.

Fang, her baby vampire, slid into the room as I was cleaning up the fur clumps. He took one look at Selese and promptly flew into her arms. Selese hugged him, her mood slightly improved, but she still took my coat with her as she left. Fortuantely, her sisters didn't tease her about wearing a heavy coat in such warm weather while her fur grew in. Although I did have to make sure they knew that Mommy would be very unhappy if they did pick on her.

That was a month or so ago, I believe. Now the only sign of Selese's lipstick adventure is her fur's a bir shorter than her sisters', but I think she's learned her lesson.

I still have to find her a Shadow Usul plushie for her birthday, though. I should be able to do it tonight, though.

*crash*

"Mommyyyyyy! marianne00 broke a window with the baseball bat!"

"I did not! Saphiel did it!"

Or maybe not. *sigh*


End file.
